SECTION 26. WHAT IS

THE PROCEDURE FOR REQUESTING A LETTER RULING FROM EMPLOYEE PLANS RULINGS AND AGREEMENTS?

General procedures for requesting a letter ruling

Specific additional procedures apply to certain letter ruling requests

.07 A letter ruling relating to an issue that is being considered by the PBGC or the DOL, that involves the same taxpayer, shall be issued at the discretion of Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements.

.08

(1) Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements is ordinarily unwilling to rule in situations in which a taxpayer or a related party is domiciled or organized in a foreign jurisdiction with which the United States does not have an effective mechanism for obtaining tax information with respect to civil tax examinations and criminal investigations, which would preclude Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements from obtaining information located in such jurisdiction that is relevant to the analysis or examination of the tax issues involved in the ruling request.

(2) The provisions of subsection 25.08(1) above shall not apply if the taxpayer or affected related party (a) consents to the disclosure of all relevant information requested by Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements in processing the ruling request or in the course of an examination to verify the accuracy of the representations made and to otherwise analyze or examine the tax issues involved in the ruling request, and (b) waives all claims to protection of bank and commercial secrecy laws in the foreign jurisdiction with respect to the information requested by the Service.

In the event the taxpayer’s or related party’s consent to disclose relevant information or to waive protection of bank or commercial secrecy is determined by the Service to be ineffective or of no force and effect, then the Service may retroactively rescind any ruling rendered in reliance on such consent.

.01 The procedures in section 6 of this revenue procedure are generally applicable to requests for letter rulings.

.02 The following specific revenue procedures and notices supplement the general instructions for requests described in section 24 of this revenue procedure and apply to requests for a letter ruling regarding the Code sections and matters listed in this section. These revenue procedures and notices may be revised or supplemented.

(1) For requests by the plan sponsor of a multiemployer pension plan for approval of an extension of an amortization period in accordance with § 431(d) of the Code, see Rev. Proc. 2010–52, 2010–52 I.R.B. 927.

(2) For requests by administrators or sponsors of a defined benefit plan to obtain approval for a change in funding method, see Rev. Proc. 2017–57.

(3) For requests for the return to the employer of certain nondeductible contributions, see Rev. Proc. 90–49, 1990–2 C.B. 620.

January 2, 2018 204 Bulletin No. 2018–1

(4) For requests for approval of the use of a substitute mortality table in accordance with § 430(h)(3)(C), see Rev. Proc. 2017–55.

(5) For information about opinion and advisory letters for § 403(b) pre-approved plans (that is, § 403(b) prototype plans and § 403(b) VS plans), see Rev. Proc. 2013–22, as modified by Rev. Proc. 2014–28 and Rev. Proc. 2015–22.

PART IIIB. PROCESSING LETTER RULING REQUESTS